Didn’t get into the NYU nursing program – so instead taking an online class. 3 chapters to go and I’ll be done. Taking another one this summer, and then diving into science classes at BMCC in the fall.

Shoulder – no more PT, but kinda stopped doing the exercise while focusing on running and more running. Slacker.

Started working out at The Fhitting Room which is amazing. The first class was the most difficult class I’ve ever taken and I was sore for 4 days afterwards. Froze my NYSC membership for a few months.

Started the Whole30 challenge on Monday. My eating habits have been subpar lately and my BFF Samantha told me about it and started it last week and I was very intrigued…

Old roommate left – found new roommate and she fits in well with the 3 of us

Work – many changes, many friends leaving, but change is good, and I know my time there is limited since I will be going to nursing school in about 2 years (yay pre-reqs)

Family – all is well, my sister and brother-in-law are looking to buy a condo and my parents are settling in after being in Florida for a month. Next visit to MA is for Mother’s Day weekend and I can’t wait.

Boston. I’m still in a bit of shock and can’t stop reading and watching and learning about what went down. I hope they get the bastard(s) who did this. I’ll always be a Masshole no matter where I live.

Joined a CSA which starts June 4th. Can’t wait for my weekly pick up of local fresh farm veggies.

Still pantrying through NYCARES – but my pantry changed it’s name which still throws us off a bit. Yorkville Common Pantry – now New York Common Pantry. Still my favorite volunteer place though.

I’m ok but I have so many friends who live downtown or in Queens, Brooklyn or Long Island or New Jersey…they don’t have power, water or any possessions.

I can’t even imagine what they are going through. I feel so incredibly lucky that my family is safe and that nothing happened to my apartment.

I worked more hours than I care to admit to but that’s what happens when you work in a hospital. I walked 35 blocks to and from work… But it was the right thing to do and I may be overtired and cranky but I am safe and everything I own is dry…not under two or three feet of water. I worked the last five days because I could. Working at the main hospital sucked…but it’s all I can do to remind myself just how lucky I am.

I took some pics during my walk to work on Tuesday that I will share.

Friends of my family live in Long Beach and are currently missing…we know they survived the storm in their house but had to leave with their dog. They had someone send a text message to a family member to say that they are ok but we still don’t know where they are.

And Bloomberg just canceled the marathon. I have such mixed feelings about whether that needed to be done or not.. People have trained for months for this race and have flown here to run. Yet there are so many people without power or water so how are we going to support all these runners. It’s tough for everyone..

Nursing school – Application submitted, waiting to hear probably around the end of November.

Physical Therapy – The torture continues. I hit my 25 session mark 2 weeks ago and now we are waiting for my insurance to request a medical review and then approve more sessions. I’m paying out of pocket now… I’m making good progress and I’m close to where I was before I went to South Africa in a lot of ways. The problem is that my shoulder hasn’t been 100% in at least 20 years. I have really really tight muscles surrounding my shoulder (under my arm, in my chest and back) that we are working on – which is wicked painful.

Sister’s wedding – absolutely perfect!

Running – I’ve decided to do a half marathon in March. I’ve been run/walking 2 – 3 times a week for the last month and have finally made it to the point where I can run 3 minutes at a time – but only twice per workout so far. Slow going here too – but progress is being made.

PT continues to go well. I’m still noticing progress every week and she keeps finding new ways to torture me…and the bruising also continues.

2 bruises for the price of 1

I’ve been given a few new exercises as well. I’m doing a sideways wall climb as well as the front wall climb. It’s a little awkward but I’m sure it’ll get better with time. Then there’s this one where I put a small exercise ball on the PT table and stand next to it with my arm on it at a right angle (similar to when I’m sitting in a chair with my arm propped up next to me). Then I lean forward like I’m trying to touch my toes with my left hand, but leaving my right arm on the ball so it’s stretching my shoulder backwards. Does that make sense? It’s pretty difficult to do (and explain too) but I can see how it’s a good range of motion exercise.

Another new exercise is also with the small exercise ball – where I hold it against the wall with my right arm straight (which also was amusing since I thought it was straight but it definitely wasn’t and my therapist had to correct my form) and then lean into it and move it back and forth and then up and down.

Next Wednesday is my 3 month post op visit with my surgeon. I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say about my progress, but I’m also a little concerned that I haven’t progressed as much as I should have. Seeing him also means it’s been 2 months since I started PT and I was originally told I’d be having 3 months of PT. Thinking that I only have 1 month of PT left is frightening since I feel like I have so much more to do there. Then again, every injury is different and everyone progresses differently…so I think as long as I haven’t hit the max that my insurance will pay (I’m just about halfway there) and everyone thinks I’m doing well then I won’t panic.

PT is going really well. The very first exercise I learned seems to be where I judge my progress the most.

This is the one where I lay on my back and hold a cane/broomstick with both hands in front of me and raise them overhead as far as possible. I was slowly reaching the point where it was so far over my head that I could barely see it in my peripheral vision. This week I made it to the point where it is completely out of my line of sight!

My therapist has been really pushing me and working on me a lot with my range of motion and with the massage-like techniques to break up the scar tissue. They tend to be extremely painful and I sometimes dread this part of PT. I know it’s good pain – but that doesn’t always help in the moment.

And I got a massive bruise on Monday from all the work she did…

pretty bruise!

After PT today I hit up the gym – same as last week. Slowly but surely I’m getting back in the swing of things. 3 days of running/walking in a little over a week. Now I just have to figure out when my next gym day is…

I want to start running. I’d like to be a runner. The most I ever was able to run (and I do feel like I was pushing myself) was 3 minutes.

So yeah…

While I think about whether to do this half marathon with my friend (and favorite ex roommate), I’m doing a modified version of couch to 5K. Either way, it gets me where I want to be.

This week I’ve only been to the gym once (slow and steady right?) but I did a 5 minute warm up then 30 seconds of running/60 seconds of walking until I hit 2 miles. It took me 34:12 which doesn’t seem too bad since it’s including the warm up.

Usually I consider my walk to the gym (3 blocks) and then up the stairs (3 flights to cardio, 5 flights to weights/spin/group exercises) my warm up but since I was coming from PT and had to stop to change my clothes, I needed a real warm up.

Next week my goal is to get to the gym twice. My work schedule is busier next week than it was this week, so I think that’ll be a real accomplishment. Plus I’ll be in Long Island this weekend, so no gym on Sunday and then my sister arrives for her bachelorette party on Friday. Two gym days definitely will be pushing it…and one would not be a total fail.

In addition to wanting to run, I’m also enjoying a spin class here and there. It’s a really good sweat and doesn’t bother my shoulder at all. Plus I don’t need a plan – just show up and let the teacher push you harder and harder for 45 minutes.